The Coalfields Heritage Group, now Coalfields Local History Association Inc. worked closely with the team in Cultural Collections in the University of Newcastle Library to bring some memories of the past century back to the present via the voices of those interviewed by eminent local historian, Jack Delaney.

Back in the late 1970s, through to the early 1990s, Jack interviewed hundreds of people on the coalfields using the technology of the time - the audio cassette tape. Unfortunately, these tapes are deteriorating, and it's a race against time to have these important memories preserved and made available to the world.

We hold a set of of these tapes, and made them available to the University Library for digitisation. We also provided support via a donation and by our local expertise, historical resources and photos.

We were delighted when the University Library was able to obtain a generous grant from the Coal & Allied Community Development Grant. Of course, many of the mineworkers interviewed on these tapes were employed by C&A or their predecessor, J. & A. Brown, the archives of which are held in the University Archives.

We hope you enjoy the memories evoked by the Voices of the Hunter. Please visit the project's website to hear them.